This invention relates to an imaging method and apparatus and more particularly, it relates to a method and apparatus for electronically aligning active elements of an imaging array with an optical system.
In one method of banking, it is necessary to digitize the images of documents such as checks and/or deposit slips, for example, to enable digitized images of the documents to be processed for banking purposes without the use of the actual checks or deposit slips themselves. Naturally, reducing the amount of data to be included in the digitized images facilitates the generation, transmission, and storing of such digitized images and also reduces the processing time when handling such digitized images for banking or transmission purposes.
One method of generating a digitized image is to determine the outer parameters of an object whose image is to be digitized and to cause the incident light from the object including the outer parameters thereof to be focused upon an entire array of light responsive elements. One of the problems with this method is that all the elements of the array are used, and consequently, a large amount of digitized data is generated which increases the transmission and processing times, for example.
When the incident light from an entire object whose image is to be digitized falls upon less than all of the light responsive elements in an associated imaging array, it is difficult, if not impossible, to mechanically align a lens in an optical system which directs the incident light to the array so that the particular light responsive elements in the array which are selected to produce the digitized image do in fact receive the incident light from the associated object.